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Apple, grapefruit, margarita — what’s driving beer’s new flavours?

In a bid to win over young drinkers and consumers tired of the same old offerings, major breweries are experimenting more than ever with beer flavours.

Apple lager, lemon shandy, grapefruit radler, beer with lime and beer-branded ciders, all for sale at the LCBO, show the different ways beer companies are blurring the lines. (Vince Talotta / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Following up its high-alcohol Lime-A-Rita malt beverage, Anheuser-Busch introduced Straw-Ber-Rita and Mang-O-Rita, now for sale in Ontario.

Gone are the days when beer drinkers thirsting for a pint only had to pick between ale and lager. Now, how about a Bud Light Lime Mang-o-Rita?

In the face of declining sales, big brewers are rolling out products that stretch the very definition of beer: brews with lower alcohol content, fewer calories, and apple, grapefruit and strawberry flavour infusions, all in a bid to keep up with changing consumer tastebuds.

“It used to be that a beer drinker was a beer drinker was a beer drinker,” said Kristi Knowles, vice-president of innovation, insights and brand portfolio strategy at Molson-Coors Canada.

But for years, mainstream beer has been losing ground to wine, spirits and substitutes such as the explosively popular cider and craft beer categories.

Shanken News Daily, an industry newsletter that tracks the global beer business, reported that sales in the U.S. beer market shrank by about 1.7 million barrels between 2000 and 2013.

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That slump wasn’t seen with other alcoholic beverages. Over the same period, wine sales grew by 99 million cases and spirits by 63 million cases.

The decline has prompted innovation and experimentation as brewers try to steal back market share. Molson-Coors has supplemented its stalwarts like Molson Canadian with lower-calorie offering Molson Canadian 67 and a fruit-infused Molson Candian 67 Tangerine Twist.

In June, the company launched Mad Jack Apple Lager, which is specifically targeting the taste buds of non-beer drinkers.

“It’s on the edge of beer,” Knowles said. “Mad Jack is positioned to look and act like a beer – it is an apple lager – but it actually doesn’t taste like a beer.”

Adding to the confusion is the recently launched Molson Canadian Cider, an actual apple cider that retains the name of the brand’s most recognizable beer.

Meanwhile, beer behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev — which owns such brands as Labatt, Keith’s and Budweiser — has responded with its own variations, such as Alexander Keith’s Original Cider, a series of Keith’s hop ales, and even a “flavour infuser” — a cup and filter that allows you to add ingredients to Keith’s IPA at home and create flavours such as vanilla coffee bean or jalapeno and lime.

Bud Light Lime’s pre-mixed, margarita-infused malt beverage Lime-A-Rita, which was launched in 2012 to considerable success, was followed up with Straw-Ber-Rita and, this summer, with Mang-o-Rita and Raz-Ber-Rita, much to the consternation of traditional beer snobs.

“Redolent of a juice intended for the 7-year-old demographic,” says a typical reviewer of Straw-Ber-Rita on beeradvocate.com.

“Get me out of this nightmare,” says another.

Of course, beer connoisseurs are not the target market. Many of these new flavours are trying to woo millennials, who favour spirits or sweeter mixed drinks, such as cocktails, Knowles said.

“It’s appealing to that younger demographic, which traditionally has been the heart and soul of the beer industry,” said Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University.

Increasingly, drinkers of all ages are forgoing a one-size-fits-all refreshment and tailoring what they drink to where they’re drinking.

“As we look at consumers and their consumption patterns, it’s very clear to us that they’re choosing different types of drinks for different occasions,” Knowles said.

Kitchener-based Brick Brewing Co. launched Waterloo Grapefruit Radler in May, a lager which is one-quarter grapefruit juice. With an alcohol content of 3.1 per cent, the beer is intended for socializing outdoors on a sunny summer day, according to Brick Brewing president George Croft.

“I think the beer business has evolved from, ‘I have one particular brand and that’s the only brand of beer that I drink.’ It’s really become occasion-based,” Croft said.

Craft breweries like Brick Brewing have driven much of the experimentation with new flavours and unique ingredients in Ontario.

In the past decade, sales of craft beer at the LCBO have skyrocketed 1,800 per cent to $50 million in 2013/14, according to Lisa Murray, a spokesperson for the LCBO.

Brand consultant David Kincaid, who previously worked as senior vice-president of brand and strategic planning at Labatt Canada, said the major brewers are trying to follow that success.

“The most powerful word in marketing is ‘new,’” Kincaid said.

“Innovation and new product line extensions are certainly a way of keeping an existing brand current and newsworthy.”

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